Review of Build-Divide -#000000- Code Black

Build Divide: Code Black is weird to judge; at least when it comes as an entry into the general "card game anime" genre. Speaking of that: This is a show about card games! I'd say "don't dismiss it out of hand" but whether or not you can suspend your disbelief as to all kinds of fights in the universe being resolved through the power of trading cards is pretty make-or-break for a lot of people. I can say that Build Divide: Code Black at least tries to do a slightly more mellow, less adventurous and overall slightly more serious plot than your average Saturday morningcartoon, but it's still about card games in the end. Consider this your formal warning.

You follow the story of one Kurabe Teruto, an amnesiac waking up in the mysterious city of Neo Kyoto. He meets with a girl his age, Banka Sakura, who fills him in on how the world works; there's one "King" that rules the city, and people who want to have any one their wishes granted participate in what's called a "Rebuild Battle": A city-wide tournament where only a single person gets to have the right to challenge the king to a match. In this city, being good at Build Divide makes or breaks a person, and via collecting twenty-three casino chips they will earn the key to the king's lair. Sakura tests Teruto on whether or not he has the strength to reach this goal and, ultimately, set out together to take the challenge.

Depending on who you are and the type of anime you've seen, this might sound like the best plot hook in the universe or cliché beyond belief. As an avid card game enjoyer myself, and someone who barely has exposure to shows with similar setups, it's a breath of fresh air to have the story hook essentially being a PG-13 death match. What it definitely is not, is Yu-Gi-Oh, despite comparisons you may or may not have heard. Yu-Gi-Oh, even at its most mature, still falls into that Saturday Morning Cartoon Adventure feeling. Even if they don't start out that way, all of them end up feeling it by the end. They're overly long plotlines that take 100+ episodes to tell, which Build Divide is most certainly not trying to do. It has a focused plotline which it wastes no time in telling (except for when it does) which could be exactly what you want, or leave you wanting for more. The story also aims at a slightly older audience, which you can see shining through in its less colourful setting and general character writing.

On the topic of character writing, to give you the short of it; it's a mixed bag. To give you the long of it: While most characters in Build Divide are interesting, have depth to them, are cute or have any combination of those three elements, they're woefully underutilized. The story mainly focuses on our protagonist Teruto, who, while not a bad character, does take a while to kick into gear and can come off as very one-note until the final stretch of episodes where his character arc finally comes into play and resolves about as quick as it came. Other characters are left either the same as they start, or show up once to then never come around again. The only exception to this would be the main lead Sakura, who gets a lot of intrigue and depth over the course of the show. You'd question if she were the main character, but with Teruto getting the vast majority of card battles in the show, there's no doubt that it is his show in the end.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the card battles themselves are not for the inexperienced. In discussion around the show you'll often find people complaining they don't understand the rules of the game. While I wouldn't call the show unclear by any means, it seems to expect the viewer to have at least a basic knowledge of how a battle-centric card game works. It tries its best to rush through a tutorial on the first episode, and slowly trickles in some concepts as it goes, but it generally goes through its battle extremely quickly and never slows down to re-explain anything. Thus, if you're not immediately up to speed with the rules from the first episode, you're going to have a hard time following. Therefor, even though it might be counter-intuitive, I recommend either making sure you understood what happens in the first episode or look up a rule video ahead of time so you can follow along with the action. The battles, for what they are, seem very reasonably scripted and are easy enough to follow if you know said rules. They're also pretty, which is a not-unimportant aspect to mention. There's a good amount of tension in them, though one complaint is that the winner is incredibly obvious each and every single time, leaving them lacking in impact by the end. If you're a fan of upsets, this isn't going to be the place to look.

As for the overall plot of Build Divide, it's totally okay. The plot goes in a radically different direction to what I'd personally expected/wanted, and I wish Teruto had dealt with more obstacles and pushback than what he eventually got, but the story is perfectly serviceable on a surface level. The only issue is that the pacing is incredibly weird around the middle part, having what I can only describe as "filler episodes" despite its 12-episode runtime. It almost feels like they wanted to do 8 or 9 episodes, and honestly feels like they wasted a bit of time with pointless diversions. The episodes in question are by no means horrible, they just end up feeling pointless in the grand scheme of things.

If you're a fan of good music by the way, well, even there, I can only give a resounding "It's okay". The score they have is utilized well and nothing sounds bad, but there's nothing in the track that I'd consider an "absolute banger" as they say. You won't walk away hating it, but it does end up being pretty forgettable by the end. Mileage on the opening and ending may vary.

Overall I would say I enjoyed my time with Build Divide well enough. It has a very strong opener and I do think it sticks the landing on the ending too, but the entire stretch of episodes 5-8 are mediocre enough to me to where I can't honestly recommend this as a must-watch. It's a shame, as I had high hopes for this, but ultimately it comes down to a "worth checking out if you're a fan of card game anime" type of deal and a "go in with tempered expectations if not a card game fan" on the other end of it. If you want a more traditional card game anime akin to the ever-popular Yu-Gi-Oh, you're in the wrong place. This show is much more akin to Wixoss, though even that is not a full one-to-one comparison. Build Divide is very much its own thing and stands on its own merits in the genre, even though those merits may not always be that impressive.